Re: My Audi vandalized (very long!)

[Mark.Granoff@Software.com (Mark Granoff)]

Craig,

Sorry to hear about your car! I can empathize, however.  Back in June my
Jetta GLX had its leather seats *stolen*, and the car was right in my
driveway, locked! So, I have some 20/20 hindsight about what to do about
your seats.

At 10:40 PM 10/14/97 -0400, you wrote:
>... I am worried that the insurance will not replace all the damaged
>items. For instance, what can they do about the leather damage? How about the
>badly nicked center console? I have a feeling that the insurance company will
>pay for the window and thats it. Sorry for the rant!

In my case the insurance company initially said they'd pay for "like kind
and quality" to replace the seats. That meant used, which they located. I
inspected them, and because of time pressure and stress level, I went with
them. The leather on the replacement seats was not in nearly as good
condition as my original seats, much to my chagrin. An option that came up
during reinspection of the "repaired" car was to have the seats recovered.
And that is my advice to you. Audi probably won't do it; like VW, you
probably cannot order whole seats. (Had I been able to replace my Jetta's
seats with new, I'd have had to buy the *parts* for like $4500, and then
pay for labor to assemble *and* install them). I'd suggest an independent
seat upholstery shop (I know a highly recommended one in the
Watertown/Walthm, MA area). For my Jetta, they estimated about $2500 to do
all the seats.

FIGHT with your insurance company to have your seats reupholstered. Have
the center console replaced, too (by Audi). Even if you have to pay your
deductable, the insurance company should pay to have the car restored to a
condition with which YOU are satisfied. DON'T BE BULLIED. Take your
insurance business elsewhere (or threaten to ;-) if they put up an
argument. Why else do you pay for insurance, right? And its not your fault
your car was vandelized or that the miscreant that did the deed was raised
poorly by his parents or that.... Oh, sorry. :-) I got carried away. (You
can see that your plight has struck a chord with me...)

Anyway, the bottom line is this: Get your car repaired to YOUR satisfaction.

Good luck,
-Mark (BTDT, unfortunately)

P.S. My Jetta incident is what led me to sell it and buy my '94 Audi 90CSQ.
So for me, things worked out for the best. :-)

--
Mark H. Granoff                                 Mark.Granoff@Software.com
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